Grand Duke Henri is pictured in this 2018 garden party photo Claude Piscitelli

Grand Duke Henri is pictured in this 2018 garden party photo Claude Piscitelli

Ten months after the publication of the Waringo Report, highlighting high staff turnover in the grand ducal household and a pressing need for reform of the monarchy, prime minister Xavier Bettel (DP) presented the broad outlines of a draft law on Wednesday.

The text, which was approved by Grand Duke Henri at the start of the week, aims to make the “constitutional monarchy more modern and transparent” with “transparent and controllable rules”. It includes a budget increase because “more transparency means more costs”, as well as a need for budgetary controls by the court of auditors, which will be expected to publish an annual report to the parliamentary budget control commission starting 2022.

Another fundamental change will be the introduction of a clear framework for the management of staff, who will have to be attached to the civil service. The organisation of the grand ducal household will be restructured.

Other changes include:

  • the creation of a coordination committee, a new body composed of the lord chamberlain of the court and the secretary general of the council of government, to improve relations between the monarchy and the government, and to approve the budget. This committee will ensure the proper functioning of the of the grand ducal household and guarantee transparency;
  • the lord chamberlain, rather than the head of state, will be responsible for staff in the grand ducal householde;
  • a revamping of the monarchie.lu website, which will also subsume the personal website dedicated to Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, launched in 2018,
  • starting in 2022, an activity report covering the official activities of the grand ducal family will be published in the first half of each year.

The draft law is expected to be presented to parliament shortly. Once approved, provisions in the draft law are expected to enter into force from 2021 to 2022.

At the same time, the commission on institutions and constitutional revision is working on a proposal for the revision of the current constitution . This focuses on the chapters dedicated to the organisation of the state, its territory, its inhabitants, the head of state, the constitutional monarchy, the Government, and general and transitional provisions.